Comments (3)

By Larry, March 15, 2012 2:48 pm

Leon Spencer 1945-2012

Listen/Download Leon Spencer – Message From the Meters

Listen/Download Leon Spencer – The Slide

Listen/Download Melvin Sparks (feat Leon Spencer) – Thank You Pt1

Listen/Download Melvin Sparks (feat Leon Spencer) – Thank You Pt2

Greetings all.

It is – as always – time to remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show returns to the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t join us at airtime, make sure to fall by the blog and pick yourself up an MP3 of the show (or dip into the extensive Radio Show archives with almost 100 past episodes).

I had something else planned for today, but last night word started to filer through the haze of the interwebs that one of my favorite past masters of the Hammond organ, the mighty Leon Spencer, had passed away.

I have yet to locate any real details, but when I do I will pass them on.

Spencer may not have been a household name (except for my house, maybe) but he was a very important figure of the crucial, funky, soul jazz years of the late 60s and early 70s.

He only recorded a few albums as a leader (between 1971 and 1974) but was a very prominent sideman on Prestige and Blue Note dates, backing cats like Lou Donaldson, Melvin Sparks, Rusty Bryant, Gene Ammons and others.

I’m posting four cuts for your listening pleasure today.

The first two (recorded 12/7/70) , Spencer’s cover of “Message From the Meters” and his original “The Slide” appeared on his Prestige LP, ‘Sneak Preview’. The all-star group, featuring Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad and Grover Washington Jr really bring the funk on the Meters tune, and get to settle into a more relaxed groove on ‘The Slide’.

The third features an example of Spencer’s work as a sideman (recorded 9/14/70*), backing Sparks (again with Muhammad) on his ‘Sparks’ LP, covering Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’. I’m posting both halves of the 45 since you get to hear Spencer stretch out a little bot more on part two.

Leon Spencer had a fluid, economical style that always demonstrated an ability to weave in and out of the groove. His playing was clearly deep inside the soul jazz “thing” while also being consistently inventive, something that cannot be said of all organists active in the period.

He will be missed.

See you on Monday with some more soul.

Peace

Larry

*Trumpeter Virgil Jones appears on both dates as well

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (0)

By Larry, March 8, 2012 5:14 pm

Playlist

Jenny Misty – Nature Boy- Breakout
Earnest Jackson – Funky Blackman (Stone)
Bill Withers – Kissing My Love (Sussex)
Talmadge Armstrong – You’ve Got So Much Feeling (In Your Love) (Love Records)
Sir Wales Wallace- Whatever you Want (Innovations 2)
Big John Hamilton – Just Seeing You Again (Minaret)
Alex Williams & The Mustangs – Thrill Aint Gone ( Jewel)
Ernest Johnson – Old Man Blues (Steph and Lee)
Rickey Calloway – Paid My Dues Part. 1 (Super Records)
Fabulous Counts – Rhythm Changes (Westbound)
Jimmie (The Shiek) Green – Let Yourself Go (Stringer)
Stage Three- Don’t Ever Go Home (Zelia)
Wisdom – Nefertiti (Adelia)

Listen/Download -The Wiz – Mixed by Tarik Thornton – 48MB Mixed Mp3/160K

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here and I have a very special treat for you all.

But first – as is always the custom – I simply must remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be blowing up the intertubes this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. Or, should you be unable to attend at the time of broadcast, you can always drop by this very spot to grab yourselves an MP3 of this (or any of the previous ninety-some) week’s show.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Also, I don’t usually do a whole ot of plugs here, but I got word that the BBC is doing an hour-long radio documentary on one of my all-time faves, the mighty Wilson Pickett, featuring interviews with folks like Bobby Womack, Steve Cropper, Bobby Eli, Willie Schofield, Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice, Rick Hall, and Spooner Oldham and the whole thing is narrated by none other than Roger Daltrey.

It will be broadcast on BBC2 (for you good folks in the UK) on Monday March 12th at 10pm and will also be available on their listen again feature on their website for the following 7 days.

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Now, back to the treats.

If you are a regular attendee of the festivities here at the Funky16Corners you will already be familiar with the mixing/digging prowess of my man Tarik Thornton.

Tarik has contributed to both of the previous Funky16Corners Soul Club Allnighters, as well as dropping one of his live sets from the Hip Drop.

Tarik is a very solid cat and it should go without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that I hold his musical taste in high esteem.

The mix he brings us today is his latest excursion, this in a down-to-mid-tempo style, entitled ‘The Wiz’.

I’m always down to listen to any of Tarik’s mixes, but this one is extra groovy.

Despite my obvious love for hard charging bangers (funk and/or soul) I have a highly developed taste for the somewhat more laid back side of funk (see ‘Easy Mover’ just added to the Guest Mix Archive), in the “it doesn’t have to crack you over the head to bring the funk” school of thought.

That is the vibe of ‘The Wiz’ with some stuff straight out of the old school, some of slightly later – how the kids say “modern soul’ bag – and some very tasty breaks as well.

He doesn’t belabor the point either, bringing the whole thing in at around a tight 40 minutes.

Give this one a spin with the lights down low.

I know you’ll dig it.

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, January 29, 2012 4:01 pm

Woody, the Herd and one blazing white suit.

Listen/Download -Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd – Crosswind

Greetings all.

Welcome to another week here at the funk ranch.

I hope all is well with you and yours.

I wanted to get the week started with something funky, but also a little jazzy, and then I thought “cover-y, too” so I went digging in the Funky16Corners Digital Funk Silo, plugged the coordinates into the GPS and arrived at the track you see before you today, Woody Herman’s version of ‘Crosswind’.

Originally recorded (and composed) by drummer Billy Cobham in 1974 on his ‘Crosswinds’ LP, the tune is one of the finer examples of jazz funk from the era.

I’ve gone on the record in this space (and other places as well) about my love for late-period Woody Herman.

Though he was an acknowledged jazz master for his work with the original Thundering Herd(s), Herman kept big bands going long past the time when most folks thought it financially and artistically feasible, and he did it well.

His late 60s/early 70s sessions for Cadet, done with the assistance of folks like Richard Evans show that Herman was able to stay relevant, keeping his head and ears in the game.

His version of ‘Crosswind’ was recorded at Montreux in 1974 and appeared on the (self-explanatory) ‘Herd at Montreux’ LP, which also features a very groovy, funky reworking of Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’.

The arrangement is very funky, with lots of electric piano, bass and drums, as well as soaring brass.

I was surprised when I picked up this album and realized that I knew almost none of the players, though it was cool to see that Herman still had Richard Evans arrangement of ‘Can’t Get Next To You’ in his book.

It’s a fine example of early-70s jazz funk and I hope you dig it.

See you on Wednesday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (14)

By Larry, December 27, 2011 7:58 pm

On the scene at Subway Soul

Willis Wooten – Your Love Is Indescribably Delicious (Virtue)
Bobby Doyle – River Deep Mountain High (WB)
Etta James and Sugar Pie DeSanto – In The Basement (Checker)
Barbara Lynn – Club a Go Go (Tribe)
Billy Butler – Right Track (Okeh)
Impacts – Thunder Chicken (Marmaduke)
Idris Muhammad – Express Yourself (Prestige)
Lavell Kamma and the Afro Soul Revue – Soft Soul (Tupelo Sound)
Sam Dees – Lonely For You Baby (Soul City)
Spellbinders – Help Me Get Myself Back Together Again (Columbia)
Jimmy Ruffin – 96 Tears (Soul)
Ella Fitzgerald – Savoy Truffle (Reprise)
Ray Bryant – Up Above the Rock (Cadet)
Mac Rebennack – The Point (AFO)
Della Reese – It Was a Very Good Year (ABC)
LaVern Baker – Batman to the Rescue (Brunswick)
Norman T Washington – Jumping Jack Flash (Pama)
Rivingtons – Pop Your Corn Pt1 (RCA)
Upsetters – Down Home (ABC)
Vernon Garrett and Marie Franklin – Second To None (Venture)
Curly Moore – Soul Train (Hot Line)
Dobie Gray – Out On the Floor (Charger)
Eyes of Blue – Heart Trouble (Deram)
Washington Smith – Fat Cat (Okeh)
Gene West – In the Ghetto (Original Sound)
Candido – Jingo (Salsoul)
Touch – Love Hangover (Breaking Down) (Brunswick)
Gene Ammons – Son of a Preacherman (Prestige)

Listen/Download – F16C Radio v.95 – 2011 Year In Review – 140MB Mixed MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the year is upon us, and so, as it has been in many years past, is the Funky16Corners Year In Review mix.

This assemblage of the finest individual tracks from this space over the last calendar year has become a tradition in which we sweep up around the Funky16Corners Blogcasting Nerve Center and Record Vault (Funk and Soul Division) and piece together a puzzle of sorts that once assembled (correctly) should give a picture of where my head – and my crates – were at over the last year.

And what a year it’s been.

If you’d sat me down last December and laid out the coming year in front of me, I would have laughed, filled with excitement and then probably crawled under the nearest table in search of shelter.

The year got off to a great start with the beginning of my residency at Spindletop @ Botanica in NYC. Over the course of the next eight months I had the opportunity to spin pretty much whatever I felt like (within certain tasteful guidelines) and it was a blast.

Botanica was a very chill location, with some very cool people, and despite the whole thing crashing down in a somewhat bittersweet pile of ashes, I would say that it was on the whole a very positive experience.

You all know that there is nothing I love better than spinning the music I love for an appreciative audience, and I had many very groovy opportunities to do so this year.

In addition to Spindletop, I was honored to get a chance to participate in one of the last Subway Soul nights, alongside Phast Phreddie, Girlsoul and Jumpy. It was a serious gas, where I got to spin some of my Northern Soul faves and hear the other selectors whip some heat on the ones and twos (I left with a slightly inflated want list that night).

The real treat of the year, though was spinning at Elliott and Jonna’s wedding down in Philly, which was an amazing experience.

Great people into great music with the extra added benefit of some delicious food. I can think of no better way to spend a summer night.

There was also the ongoing pleasure of doing the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which has really been a gas this year. If you haven’t yet tuned in, you can join the party every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, or pick up the show as an MP3 over the weekend (they’re all archived here at the blog, too).

I also got to spin records at a couple of local autism fundraising events which was especially rewarding for reasons very close to my heart.

Speaking of things close to my heart, 2011 was also the year that my wife was diagnosed with leukemia, an event that has verily turned our world inside out.

Though some superficial things have remained on a somewhat even keel, the axis on which my family’s life spins was shaken to its core this fall, and we have all learned to look at the world through slightly different eyes.

Things are on a solid, progressive track as far as my wife’s health is concerned, and we have many reasons to be optimistic, which doesn’t change the fact that no matter how sunny things look ahead of us, there’s always that shadow in the rear view mirror.

I have to make note of the fact that the readers of this blog have been extraordinarily supportive during this crisis, and that has been heartwarming and very much appreciated.

When I take a look at this playlist, it occurs to me that although there are some old faves and some longtime want list items finally bagged, there are also many, many new discoveries that came into my ears and then my crates over the past year, and that is the main reason that the Funky16Corners train stays on the rails.

It has always been my hope that those of you that stop by here on the reg are discovering something new and groovy, but also that you realize that this is a journey of discovery for me as well.

Big ups go out to fellow selectors like Tony C, Tarik Thornton, M-Fasis, Agent 45 and Midnite Cowbwoy for hepping me to cool stuff that I hadn’t heard before, all of which I passed on to you good people through the blog.

I will continue to do so.

I have no idea what 2012 holds for me, since things have really taken on a day-to-day vibe these last few months.

My main hope is that everyone here at home base stays healthy and happy.

Aside from that, I only hope that the next year brings some new sounds my way, and hopefully the opportunity to spread the love, whether through the blog, or in person as a DJ.

Either way, the very least any of us can do is follow that basic prescription in the Funky16Corners logo:

Keep the Faith.

See you next week (make sure to tune in to the Funky16Corners Radio Show Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio for the Year End Funk and Soul Dance Party!)

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo), in regard to the April 2nd walk.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some very tasty UK Folk Rock.

Comments (2)

By Larry, December 15, 2011 12:45 pm

James Rivers

Listen/Download – James Rivers – Fonky Flute

Greetings all.

The end of another week is upon us, and so I must remind you all that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be hitting the airwaves of the interwebs this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. This week we have Part 2 of our international excursion, with stops in Africa, the West Indies and the UK, so make sure to stop by and dig it. If you are unable to do so, but still wish to hear the show you can fall by here and pick up the ones and zeros on Saturday when I post the show as an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is a groovy one that I’ve been holding out of the spotlight for a while (though it did drop in a mix about four years ago).

The artist in question, James Rivers is a cat that I’ve been following ever since I started to get deep into the sounds of New Orleans.

Rivers was a multi-instrumentalist (equally adept on sax and flute) who recorded a number of excellent 45s under his own name for labels like Instant, Eight Ball, Kon-Ti and J.B.’s, as well as at least one album. He was also a busy sideman in the studios of New Orleans, working for cats like Eddie Bo.

Rivers recorded several 45s for Lionel Worthy’s Kon-Ti label in the late 60s and early 70s (see Dan Phillips article on Rivers’ Kon-Ti sides at the always excellent Home of the Groove) and the catalog number seems to place today’s selection in the vicinity of 1969 or 1970.

I picked up my copy of ‘Fonky Flute’ in an auction years ago, and have never seen another copy since then (which is why I’ve never had the opportunity to ‘mint up’).

The record starts out innocently enough, with a pleasant melody being stated by the band (organ, piano, drums and bass) and River’s flute lead.

The flute soloing begins to get gradually more intense, until about the 1:30 mark at which point Rivers goes absolutely batshit with the overblowing and the vocalizing, eventually closing out the passage with a whistle (?!?), in the Rahsaan Roland Kirk stylee.

The song then pops back into the groove, with Rivers getting just a little bit crazy again before the run out groove.

You know I’m a huge jazz flute fan, and the first time I heard this record I just about flipped my wig.

Rivers was a versatile instrumentalist – which is probably made him such a popular studio hand – and this can be seen in his own recordings. He was capable of playing blues, jazz, New Orleans second line parade sounds, soul and funk.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, December 13, 2011 4:07 pm

Dizzy Gillespie

Listen/Download – Dizzy Gillespie – Soul Kiss Pt1

Greetings all.

I hope the middle of the week, aka dio del humpo finds you all well.

If you fall by Funky16Corners on the reg, you already know that I often find myself in a jazz bag, but even the most devoted might be surprised on how deep that bag really is.

Thanks to my father, a musician and a fan, I’ve been hearing jazz my entire life, from Dixieland, to Chicago style, West Coast cool, and hard bop (in my parents house) and adding post bop, fusion and free jazz in my adulthood.

There was even a period in my late 20s to my early 30s where I listened to little else.

There are often jazz and jazz-related features here on Funky16Corners (and on the radio show) but those are generally restricted to the groove-based and the funky.

I’m not here to tell you that I’m going to start rhapsodizing about my deep and abiding love for Clifford Brown and Thelonious Monk, or that I’m going to start another blog, because I’m not (insane), but rather to preface the inclusion of another groovy, funky track, that happens to have been made by one of the most prominent innovators in the history of jazz.

It has been discussed here before, but to reprise briefly, there are two kinds of jazzers you will find here at Funky16Corners, those who’s career is rooted almost exclusively in soul jazz/groove, in that those sounds were their figurative bread and butter, and old school players who found themselves on the margin as the 60s arrived and took a detour into a more contemporary sound in an effort to stay current.

John Birks ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie found himself in 1971 teetering on the border between those two groups.

It was Gillespie, who along with Monk, Charlie Parker, Kenny Clarke and many others verily gave birth to Bebop in the 1940s.

Dizzy had the extra added benefit of also being a hepcat supreme, becoming in essence the face of the movement with his beret, goatee and hip lingo. People might have heard of Parker or later (much later) Monk, but they knew what Dizzy looked like, and in the earliest days of the spread of electronic media, that meant that for many, he was THE face of modern jazz.

I was lucky enough to see him twice in the late 70s and early 80s.

The tune I bring you today was recorded in 1971, when keyboardist Mike Longo was working in Dizzy’s band.

While there were old school boppers like James Moody on the session, you also had Longo, Bernard Purdie and Phil Upchurch as well.

The sound of ‘Soul Kiss’ is about soul jazzy as Dizzy ever got, and it’s not hard to see cuts like this as his bid to stay in the rapidly evolving game.

The groove is hard, the organ wails, and the only indication the listener gets that Gillespie was involved are the short, sharp trumpet bursts in the chorus.

The album that it comes from ‘The Real Thing’ is a very funky affair, especially for Gillespie, and as a result it is sweated heavily by the crate digging set.

I have yet to find a vinyl copy of the LP, but the 45 I bring you today will do for now.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (11)

By Larry, November 24, 2011 2:20 pm

Mmmmmmmm!

Greetings all!

This is an impromptu post, spurred on by the spirit of Thanksgiving, in which the holiday and the word take on extra special meaning.

I am thankful first and foremost that we are lucky enough to have my wife home with us for the holiday. I brought her home from the hospital this morning.

Hopefully being home and around her family will help make her stronger during her recovery.

Second, I’m thankful that I have this outlet to share my love of music with all of you.

I’m reposting the three food-related mixes I’ve done here over the years so that while you’re stuffing your gobs with gobbler, you can also stuff your ears with soul.

What you get here are the first two Soul Food mixes, as well as F16C Radio v.60 which is mostly chicken-themed, but ends in a flourish with the Niteliters ‘Serenade to a Jive Turkey’.

I hope you dig the sounds, and that you all have an excellent Thanksgiving weekend,

See you on Monday.

Peace

Larry

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Funky16Corners Radio v.3 – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) Pt1

Track listing

Brother Jack McDuff – Hot Barbecue (Prestige)

 Soul Runners – Chittlin’ Salad Pt1 (MoSoul)

Lionel Hampton – Greasy Greens (GladHamp)

Albert Collins – Cookin’ Catfish (20th Century)

Andre Williams – Rib Tips (Avin)

Maurice Simon & The Pie Men – Sweet Potato Gravy (Carnival)

Mel Brown – Chicken Fat (Impulse)

Lonnie Youngblood – Soul Food (That’s What I Like) (Fairmount)

Prime Mates – Hot Tamales (Sansu)

Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes (Music Merchant)

Leon Haywood – Cornbread and Buttermilk (Decca)

Bobby Rush – Chicken Heads (Galaxy)

Booker T & The MGs – Jelly Bread (Stax)

Gentleman June Gardner – Mustard Greens (Blue Rock)

West Siders – Candy Yams (Infinity)

Hank Jacobs – Monkey Hips and Rice (Sue)

George Semper – Collard Greens (Imperial)

Billy Clark & His Orchestra – Hot Gravy (Dynamo)

Listen Download Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Radio v.9 – Soul Food Pt2

Playlist

1. Simtec Simmons – Tea Box (Maurci)

2. Johnny Barfield & The Men of S.O.U.L. – Soul Butter (SSS Intl)

3. Ronnie Woods – Sugar Pt2 (Everest)

4. Stan Hunter & Sonny Fortune – Corn Flakes (Prestige)

5. Fabulous Counts – Scrambled Eggs (Moira)

6. Watts 103rd St Rhythm Band – Spreadin Honey (Keymen)

7. Freddie Roach – Brown Sugar (Blue Note)

8. Albert Collins – Sno Cone Pt1 (TCF Hall)

9. Chuck Edwards – Chuck Roast (Rene)

10. Willie Mitchell – Mashed Potatoes (Hi)

11. Booker T & The MGs – Red Beans & Rice (Atlantic)

12. Righteous Brothers Band – Green Onions (Verve)

13. George Semper – Hog Maws & Collard Greens (Imperial)

14. Lee Dorsey – Candy Yam (Amy)

15. Roosevelt Fountain & his Pens of Rhythm – Red Pepper Pt1 (Prince Adams)

16. Bad Boys – Black Olives (Paula)

17. Willie Bobo – Spanish Grease (Verve)

18. American Group – Enchilada Soul (AGP)

DOWNLOAD – 39.3 MB Mixed MP3

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Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Funky16Corners Radio v.60 – Finger Lickin’ Good!

Playlist

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Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (14)

By Larry, November 13, 2011 3:36 pm

Reuben Wilson

Grover Washington Jr.

Listen/Download – Reuben Wilson – Inner City Blues

Listen/Download – Grover Washington Jr. – Inner City Blues

Listen/Download – Grover Washington Jr. – Mercy Mercy Me

Greetings all.

Here’s simultaneously hoping that you all are well and telling you that things are progressing as well as can be expected in our corner of the world.

My incredibly brave wife is standing tall despite chemo beating her like a rented mule.

These are hard times (a la Curtis Mayfield, Gene Chandler and Baby Huey) for her to endure treatment and for us to watch her do it.

It is alternately inspiring and disheartening, since the process reveals her ever deeper well of resilience, but also a seemingly endless supply of physical and psychological pain for her to deal with.

But, deal with it she does.

My thanks go out to the doctors and nurses who are helping her (and all of us) through this experience, as well as all the good folks who have sent messages of hope and prayer.

I’ve never had a huge amount of faith in humanity, but this experience – no matter how harrowing on its face – has also exposed our family to an extraordinary show of kindness and generosity from family and friends.

If there is an upside to this, that is it and it is humbling.

My (our) thanks to all of you.

Since I can’t guarantee more than one post a week while all of this is going on, I figure it behooves me to ensure that it brings with it a healthy dose of sounds, on which you can focus your aural ruminations until the next time I can get it together.

While I was combing the wilds of my hard drive, I happened upon a Reuben Wilson album, with an especially Hammond-groovy take on Marvin Gaye’s ‘Inner City Blues’ from his (Reuben’s) 1972 ‘The Sweet Life’ LP.

As I was giving it a listen, it occurred to me that I had other cool covers of  cuts from ‘What’s Going On’ in storage – of a similar vintage – and that I ought to pair them up in the dual causes of thematic consistency and general good music-ness.

I doubt that anyone reading this will dispute the greatness of Marvin’s 1971 epic, considered by many to be his greatest work, and one of the single finest soul LPs ever recorded.

It was a significant hit for Gaye, and it’s influence was far reaching, generating many cover versions across the soul, funk and jazz spectrums.

The first track I bring you today is the aforementioned Reuben Wilson take on ‘Inner City Blues’ (see Funky16Corners Radio v.24.5 for a very nice cover of this tune by Brian Auger).

Wilson is one of my favorite jazz funk organists of the classic era, never flashy but always stylish and on point. While he doesn’t always get the shine that some of his better known contemporaries do, his work with the Wildare Express (on Brunswick) and solo sides for Blue Note and Groove Merchant are essential.

His take on ‘Inner City Blues’ grooves hard, with some very nice soloing on the Hammond and tight, funky backing by his group.

The second and third cuts in this post are from an artist that continually shows up in surprising places.

Grover Washington Jr is a cat that I only knew from his big hits, and always assumed to have sprung up, fully formed as one of the standard bearers of smooth, R&B inflected jazz.

However, it was during my obsessive Hammond digging that I discovered that he had played with the Mark 3 Trio, and had done time in Philly area combos with none other than the mighty Charles Earland also recording as a sideman for other Prestige artists like Boogaloo Joe Jones, and Leon Spencer.

A few years back someone hepped me to his first solo album ‘Inner City Blues’, recorded for the Kudu label in 1971.

Backed by a serious group of sidemen, including Idris Muhammad, Ron Carter, Eric Gale, Bob James and Richard Tee, Washington displayed a tougher side of his sound.

I was surprised when I discovered how much work he did as a sideman for organists like Johnny Hammond Smith and Dr Lonnie Smith (were they giving everyone named Smith a Hammond organ??), as I was to discover how much I dug this album.

I was initially going to post only his lyrical, mellow cover of ‘Mercy Mercy Me’, but as I was writing this post I was listening to the album and decided that I had to include the title cut from the album as well.

Washington’s version of ‘Inner City Blues’ features some wild guitar as well as some very cool sax work by the man himself that I rougher than just about anything I’ve ever heard him play.

And really, could anyone possibly not dig the opportunity to hear two very cool versions of a song like this?

I thought not.

So, dig the Marvin worship and if I’m not back before Friday, remember that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, and then posted as an MP3 on Saturday.

Keep the faith and I’ll see you when I see you.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

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By Larry, October 13, 2011 1:28 pm

Joe Thomas ‘The Ebony Godfather’

Listen/Download – Ebony Godfather – Castlin’

Listen/Download – Ebony Godfather -Electric Godfather

Greetings all.

The end of the week is finally upon us and I – for one – couldn’t be happier.

Sleep (and vinyl) deprived, I could use a serious rest, yet for some odd reason I soldier on.

That said, I still managed to get this week’s Funky16Corners Radio Show assembled and ready to go, which it will (go, that is) this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio. If funk, soul, jazz and/or rare groove are sounds that make your ears happy, make sure to tune in, or if you can’t bet there, you can always fall by the blog on Saturday to pick up the show as an MP3.

The tunes I bring you today are a couple of very tasty bits of funky flute action.

I picked up the ‘Moog Fluting’ album by the Ebony Godfather sight unheard, mainly because its reputation preceded it, having shown up on several ‘finds’ lists over the years as a kind of crate diggers perennial.

It was a cheap score, so I tossed it onto the keeper stack (on account of I dig some jazz flute) and took it home, where I discovered in short order that the Ebony Godfather was in fact none other than Joe Thomas, who had used that title on an album a year or two before this one.

Though he is credited on the back of the record, I have no idea why he would go out of his way to obscure his involvement unless of course it was some sort of Superfly-era rebranding attempt.

Though the title suggests Moog involvement, what’s really going on is that Thomas is working it out on the flute in a pretty standard jazz-funk fashion, with the occasional addition of processing/effects on the instrument, none of which sounds like Moog (to me anyway).

The two tracks I bring you today (‘Castlin’ and ‘Electric Godfather’) are prime slices of early/mid-70s jazz funk, with Thomas’s exciting soloing laid over a tight electric rhythm section and horns.

It’s a little hotter than your average CTI session of the same era, while maintaining some of the same flavor and production values.

Thomas always managed to walk that fine line between jazz and commerce, working R&B inflected soul jazz in the 60s (as a sideman and leader), funkier stuff like these Ebony Godfather sessions, and the smoother disco sounds of his later sessions like ‘Plato’s Retreat’ and his cover of Boz Scaggs’ ‘Lowdown’.

His attachment to the material always seemed much more natural than that of some of his peers attempting to work the same side of the street.

I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back on Monday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, September 11, 2011 10:46 am

Listen/Download – Natural Gas – Live and Learn

Listen/Download – Natural Gas – Rameses 1

Greetings all.

I hope everyone had themselves a groovy weekend and took the time to check out the Wardell Quezergue-related sounds. I also hope you took the time to paddle out into the wilds of the intertubes in search of a little more of his story (and history). He was an important figure in the sound of New Orleans and deserves to be remembered (and the music he made, heard).

So, now that the new week is here, how about some of the funky, jazzy horn rock sound??

I picked up the sole LP by the Canadian band Natural Gas a few years back when it popped up on a sale list with an intriguing description (probably something along the lines of ‘funky horn rock’) and an equally intriguing price tag. I’d never heard of the band, but all signs pointed to “BUY”, so I did, and when it came through the mail slot onto the turntable I knew that I’d done a groovy thing.

Natural Gas (could they have selected a more un-Google-icious name?) hailed – as mentioned – from north of the border and put out their only album in 1970 on the Firebird label.

Though I can’t tell you much about the band itself (one of their tracks, a cover of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ already appeared here in F16C Radio v.74 ‘Day Tripping’), it has roots (via singer George Olliver) in the prime of Canadian 60s rock, first with the Rogues, and then in the much more successful soul-rock outfit Mandala.

Olliver left Mandala in 1969 to for Natural Gas.

If I were to describe the Natural Gas sound, I’d say a slightly more progressive take on the horn-rock vibe of the time (led of course by Blood Sweat and Tears, which was helmed by David Clayton Thomas who for a brief time had been in the Rogues with Olliver).

That the sound was verily omnipresent for a few years should be evident to anyone with a passing acquaintance with the era, with bands that were first and foremost a horn driven thang, with the BS&Ts, Chicagos, as well many soulful or jazz-inspired rock bands of the day (like Melting Pot) packing a horn section.

There is of course the question of fusion, but it’s probably more accurate (at least as I see it) to assign pre-existing jazzers attempting (with varying degrees of success) to rockify their sound with that term, where most of what I’m talking about could loosely be called jazz rock.

Much of what fell under the jazz rock sound is in retrospect often guilty of musical overreaching, with musicians who’s hearts might have been in the right place but who’s chops and or ears were not up to the task, making for cluttered, sometime clumsy attempts at jazz which were simultaneously overcooked versions of rock.

Naturally, it was the late 60s and early 70s and hordes of drugged out kids with their feet in the mud couldn’t have cared less as long as they could keep grooving, and now, forty years on, a lot of that stuff doesn’t hold up well as either jazz or rock.

That said, I find that despite their undeserved obscurity, Natural Gas were actually pretty good, with enough compositional and technical wherewithal to create music that was sonically interesting and – it bears mentioning – rarely overbearing.

The two tracks I bring you this fine day exhibit two sides of the band.

The first, ‘Live and Learn’ is a slightly funky excursion featuring Olliver’s vocals running in and out of a tight instrumental backing. The band is tight, and the horn charts are tasteful, with the two sections of the group actually working together cooperatively (not always the case with these things). Olliver was a good singer, generally free of the sloppy, white soulboy-isms of many of his contemporaries. I’ll have to dig out a Mandala 45 and post it so you can get a taste for his earlier work.

The second cut, the instrumental ‘Rameses 1’ starts out as a Hammond groover, evolving into a more expansive jazz tableau, featuring some cool guitar. There are whispers of UK prog around the edges, but the organ drops out and the piano comes in (around the 2:00 mark) before it really unfolds too much. The remaining six minutes is split between contemplative piano, swinging, small-group action, and then a gradual return of the horn section.

It is – especially for the time – a work of remarkable good taste and subtlety, the band never straying outside the boundaries of their instrumental (or compositional) prowess.

The album ought to be better known.

George Olliver still performs and records today.

______________________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget that I’ll be spinning some tunes during the annual Point Pleasant Lions Seafood 5K and 1 Mile FUN Run/Walk on Saturday, September 17th in Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ. The run benefits the JT Foundation for Autism Awareness and runs right before the Seafood Fest (which starts at 10AM). I’ll be spinning all of the funk soul and disco you’d expect, so if you’re in the area, come on down and run, sit and watch people run while listening to music, or get your groove on before hunting down some delicious seafood. It’s a great cause and there’ll be good music, good people and good food, so what else do you need to know?

____________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you dig the tunes, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (2)

By Larry, August 18, 2011 1:15 pm

Shades of Joy from the cover of their 1969 album

Listen/Download – Shades of Joy – Flute In a Quarry (45 Edit)

Greetings all.

We’ve all packed away another week on the calendar, and I for one feel that it was well spent.

This has been a fairly (heh…fairly…) busy summer hereabouts, but a lot of the busy has been the good and productive kind, so I can’t really complain.

Since it is the end of the week, I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show will be back this Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio, with the funk, the soul, the jazz and the rare groove for your ears, your head and your heart, and if you can’t be huddled by the wireless set at airtime you can always pull down the ones and zeros of its convenient MP3 form over the weekend.

The tune I bring you today is something a little different with an interesting back story.

I don’t recall where I first heard of the Shades of Joy, but I do recall that it had something to do with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s epic cult film, ‘El Topo’.

While I have never seen ‘El Topo’ in the proper way (i.e. with a box of popcorn and my undivided attention) I did get to watch it play in a loop (and DJ in front of it) during a particularly memorable Asbury Park 45 Sessions.

It’s a crazy flick, and ironically, I did not actually hear any of it that night.

I say ironically since the 45 I bring you today is in fact a sampling (a 45 edit bringing you just under three minutes of a seven minute plus album track*) of that very soundtrack.

The group Shades of Joy was a SanFran Bay Area fixture in the late 60s and early 70s. Their leader, saxophonist Martin Fierro arranged the music that Jodorowsky composed for ‘El Topo’ and the Shades of Joy (augmented by other Bay heads like Frank Morin of the Sir Douglas Quintet** and keyboardist Howard Wales***) played.

The Shades of Joy had recorded a full LP for the Fontana label in 1969 (‘El Topo’ came out in 1970) but it appears that they recorded the soundtrack without their singer Millie Foster.

‘Flute In A Quarry’ is a very cool, somewhat progressive slice of funky, Latin-influenced jazz rock (dig the percussion). Considering the Bay Area roots, the temptation is to make a Santana reference, but the sound here is funkier and jazzier (and less Latin) than Carlos et al. In fact, Fierro’s tenor sax work is very edgy and light years beyond what you might expect from similarly shaped horn bands of the era.

The LP was produced by Jimi Hendrix producer Alan Douglas, and someone going by the name of Doris Dynamite (sounds like an R. Crumb creation).

It’s a cool tune, and I hope you dig it.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Peace

Larry

*The full length version from the ‘El Topo’ soundtrack included longer “mellow” sections and an extended guitar solo
**I’ve seen references that indicate that Fierro also played with the SDQ
***Wales was the man behind A.B. Skhyy and the in demand 45 ‘Huxley’s Howl’

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

Comments (1)

By Larry, August 9, 2011 4:39 pm

Eddie Jefferson

Listen/Download – Eddie Jefferson – Freedom Jazz Dance

Listen/Download – Eddie Jefferson – Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin

Greetings all.

I hope that all is well.

The mighty originator of vocalese, Mr. Eddie Jefferson has been covered in this space a couple of times before.

Though his career dips way back into the 40s, Jefferson recorded steadily through the 60s and 70s, until his murder in front of the storied Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit in 1979.

Like most of his soul jazz contemporaries, Jefferson liked to stay ahead of the game, and continued to create new ‘vocalese’, much of it related to current material, like his remake of Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’ and the two tunes I bring you today.

Jefferson recorded the Eddie Harris composition ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’ twice in the 70s, both times for the Muse label.

The later version appeared in this space a while back and can still be heard as part of Funky16Corners Radio v.65.

I discovered the take I bring you today whilst out a-digging a few months back. I’m always game for some Eddie Jefferson I haven’t heard, and when I happened upon his 1974 album ‘Things Are Getting Better’, and noticed that it included several interesting covers (and cost less than a fiver) it went right onto the keeper pile and I took it home.

When it finally arrived on my turntable I was very pleasantly surprised to hear a different take on ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’ – less frantic and dare I say more funky – than the one previously featured, as well as a very groovy reworking of Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘Thank You Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Agin’, with new lyrics namechecking the greats of midcentury jazz.

The feel of the album is a little looser and fusion-y than his other efforts of the period, and listening to some of the cuts several times I find it shocking that it does not seem to have been sampled by anyone.

Jefferson was always a swinging cat, and ‘Things Are Getting Better’, which also includes a very dark and sinister take on ‘Bitches Brew’ is at least in my opinion, the finest thing he recorded in the 70s.

If you get a chance, pick up one of the reissues of his earlier work (or even better, look for some of it on OG vinyl in the field). I think you’ll dig it.

I hope you dig these sounds, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Peace

Larry

Also, make sure that you check out the POAC link below (click on the logo). It’s a fantastic organization that provides services to our local autism community, with education and recreational events, and any contribution you could make would be greatly appreciated.

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.